Depends on how much you can spend. I’d ask someone selling them what model is sold more often and what people say when they buy them.

First consider the network carrier, an Android phone or any other smartphone is only good as it’s network coverage signal.
It’s always best to go try out the phones in person to see if it feels right in your hands.
Decide whether you can live with a touch screen alone or would need a physical qwerty keyboard to type on.
Check what apps are pre-loaded and go for those that are of interest to you.
Compare the device hardware and choose what appeals to you.

For me, the big one is this: Vanilla Android.

Google created Android, but phone manufacturers have raped it and put ugly UI layers on top of it (MotoBlur, HTC Sense). These UI layers also….
– remove functionality
– make it more difficult to pick up any Android phone and know what to do
– mean that the phone will not be getting the latest OS upgrades right away. You have to wait until the company rewrites their ridiculous UI layer to work with Google’s latest Android release.

For this reason, I am going to be getting the Google Nexus. It’s the real deal. Standard, non-customized, vanilla Android. It also has an amazing 4.65” screen and some other great specs, including the first phone to have Android 4.0.

@tom_g I see your point – I went to the Sprint store to play with some Android phones. Some of them I could not figure out how to use because of the UI. I’m a fricken rocket scientist, who uses multitaking WebOS, so it shouldn’t be that hard for me!

My wife has an iPhone 3GS, which has iOS3. It’s like riding with training wheels. I think iOS 5 might be closer to what I am used to.

Right. If you know one iOS device, you can use them all. It depends on what you want it for, but iOS might be the way to go for you. You can read some of my thoughts on Android vs. iOS here however.

@RocketGuy I have an iphone 4 with IOS 5. IOS 5 is okay, but I wouldn’t call it a major improvement. The major plus is the notification screen. It also lacks true multitasking, although frankly, it’s a phone. I don’t need to multitask. One thing, though, is that AFAIK, AT&T is the only network that will allow you to surf your 3G web and be on the phone at the same time, although you can use your wireless.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with my iphone, though. It’s easy to use and pretty intuitive. But then again, I’m not paying for it as it’s a work phone and it’s WAY better than my blackberry. If I were to have a choice, however, I’d probably get a Droid.

And @RocketGuy Don’t give me that “It’s too complicated for me” crap. I’ve known you for over 30 years. You’re one of the smartest people I know and if there’s ANYTHING you could figure out it’s a phone.

Personally, I find the striped down MotoBlur on my old Droid X to be fine, mostly since I turned much of it off. The version on my wifes Droid 3… annoying as hell. But you can fix that yourself later; just root it.

As previously mentioned, the carrier is very important. I went Verizon and have practically always had reception; my friends with other networks are not that lucky. Now, do you want/need a QWERTY keyboard? How important is HDMI? I never plan to hook phone to my TV, so I never use mine. Is 4G speed a must-have, or is plain old 3G good enough?

Pre-loaded apps are a non-issue at best. In fact, the fewer the better since it’s either utter crap or inferior to third-party alternatives. And they all have access to the same markets (plural!), so the only thing you really need to worry about on the software end is which version of Android it has (or, if you plan to root it and go vanilla, which version it supports); you really should shoot for Gingerbread/2.3

@Rarebear Sometimes it’s not a matter of intellect, but rather of patience. In other words, can you learn it before being filled with the urge to murder the damn thing? I lack patience, so much of my knowledge of Gingerbread is useless when using certain phones that run it.

@jerv I know, I was just teasing @RocketGuy. He and I go way back.

I gave several Android phones the 1 minute user-friendliness test at the Sprint store => C+. Some UI jumped into a screen that I was unable to get out of easily. On my Palm Pre, I press the center button and get the Finder (without losing the currently running apps).

@RocketGuy I find that my Home key works wonders. Then again, as previously stated, rooting and reflashing with vanilla Android is always an option ;)

FWIW, most of my Android experience is on Motorola Droid™ Android phones, which last I checked were Verizon-exclusive. Most of the reason for that is that a few minutes with various HTC and other Android phones pissed me off because of their UI “enhancements”.